


It's Been a Long Long Time

by Nerdgirlproblems



Series: Staine verse [4]
Category: Captain America, Glee, Marvel (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Staine, Winter Soldier spec and spoilers, angst but a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-03
Updated: 2013-04-03
Packaged: 2017-12-07 08:39:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/746528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerdgirlproblems/pseuds/Nerdgirlproblems
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Winter Soldier concept art gave me feels.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Been a Long Long Time

**Author's Note:**

> As always, for Gigi and Katie who made the beauty of Staine.
> 
> Title from the song "It's Been a Long, Long Time" (1945)
> 
> Un-beta'd and written late at night. Mistakes are all mine.

When the call first came through, Blaine had no idea that anything out of the ordinary had happened. And ordinary for Steve was a far cry from the normal for the rest of the world.

 

Blaine and Steve were spending a lazy Saturday in Blaine’s apartment, boxes of Thai take-out strewn across the coffee table and bodies reclining entwined on the couch. Blaine hummed bits of songs to himself, zoning out, while Steve pondered the marvel that is modern television.

 

“So people actually like to watch this?”

 

“Mmhmm.” Blaine leaned back onto Steve’s chest, wrapping their arms around his stomach.

 

“But these women are so rude to one another! And their faces look…”

 

“That’s what happens when you get plastic surgery.”

 

“Plastic? Isn’t that a new building material or something? They put it in their bodies?”

 

“Kind of.”

 

Steve shook his head. “I don’t care what the title says, these housewives can’t be real.”

 

Blaine chuckled, burrowing back further into Steve’s hold as he felt himself drifting off to sleep. Sadly a few moments later they were interrupted by the chirping and buzzing of Steve’s phone.

 

“Rogers.” He answered with the tone he saved for his Cap persona, so different from how he had just been speaking to Blaine. But since the only people who called him were SHIELD and Blaine, and his boyfriend was currently in his lap…

 

“Right, I’ll be right in, Sir.” Steve hung up the phone and pressed a kiss to Blaine’s head.

 

“Sorry, B. Looks like I have to cut this short.”

 

Blaine sat up, turning back with an embellished frown.

 

“Time to go save the world?”

 

“Time to go to work and get briefed, more likely.”

 

Blaine moved to let Steve stand up.

 

“I promise to call if I have to go on a mission or if I’ll be a few days.” He grabbed his wallet and keys from the side table before leaning down to give Blaine a quick kiss.

 

“Stay safe!” Blaine called out to him. “Love you!”

 

Steve stopped at the door, looking back with a grin on his face.

 

“I love you, too.”

 

Blaine turned back to the TV with a dopey smile on his face. It was hours before he had any inkling that something was wrong.

 

Blaine sat up in bed, a book in his lap and his phone in view, trying hard not to start to worry. He stayed up far later than he usually did, and near midnight he got a text from Steve.

 

_Something came up. I’m fine. I’ll be home as soon as I can._

 

Blaine frowned. Steve barely had a hand of modern technology, and while he got a kick out of talking on the phone when he was away, he loathed texting. Something was wrong. Blaine took no time responding.

 

_Are you sure you’re alright? You didn’t call._

 

A few minutes later he got an answer.

 

_This is Natasha on Steve’s phone._

 

Blaine felt himself pale. He’d met Natasha a few times, and while he liked her and saw why Steve trusted her so much, something must be going on for her to be using his phone.

 

_Steve’s fine. He can’t call so he asked me to relay his message._

 

A moment later he got a new text from an unknown number. In fact, it didn’t even look like a real cell number.

 

_When Steve gets home, have his favorite food waiting for him. He’ll need the comfort._

 

Blaine barely slept that night worrying about Steve, but the next day he quickly got to work getting things ready. But his boyfriend didn’t come back that day, or the day after.

 

On Tuesday when Blaine got home from work he found Steve on the couch, his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, the coffee table covered in old photos. Blaine recognized some of them. They were all from Steve’s old life, worn sepia images of soldiers mugging for a camera and goofing around. And Blaine knew that most of them held the image of one man in particular, Steve’s fallen best friend.

 

“Steve?” Blaine was hesitant. He still had no idea what had happened.

 

Steve didn’t move.

Blaine slowly walked over to him, kneeling on the floor beside him and resting a hand on Steve’s arm.

 

“Steve, honey. What happened?”

 

Steve still didn’t speak, merely clenching his fists in response.

 

After a tense silence, he said quietly with a raspy voice, “Fury sent me home. Said I needed to rest. That there’s nothing I can do.”

 

“I…” Blaine faltered for a moment. But Steve needed him. “I made soup. For you.”

 

As much as Steve loved trying new and “exotic” foods around the city, his favorites were still what he had eaten before the War. Home-cooked meals, hamburgers at a diner. But when Steve had been young, when he was a sickly child and before his parents had passed, whenever he was sick his mother would make him chicken soup, from scratch obviously, from a neighbor’s recipe. He’d made it for Blaine not long ago when Blaine had a cold. And when Natasha mentioned the need for comfort food, Blaine’s mind immediately went to that soup, a simple blend of broth and vegetables, but one that he knew would make Steve feel a little more at home.

 

So he was surprised when Steve shook his head.

 

“No. No, I… I can’t.”

 

“Of course you can. Have you even eaten since Saturday?”

 

Finally Steve lifted his head and look at Blaine. His normally shining blue eyes were blood-shot and looked as if he was barely holding back tears. He seemed as if he was just holding himself together, that all of his strength was being spent on maintaining a stoic soldierly exterior. But something had shaken him to his core.

 

Blaine felt his heart breaking at the sight. He lifted his hand to stroke Steve’s cheek, but Steve flinched back at the touch. Undeterred, Blaine moved forward, wrapping Steve in his arms and trying to envelop as much of his boyfriend as he could. For once the usually large man seemed so small.

 

“It’s okay, honey.” Blaine whispered, rocking Steve slowly. “I promise, whatever it is, it’s going to be okay.”

 

Steve choked a sob, but he finally let go. He grabbed at Blaine’s shirtfront and began to cry, his body shaking slightly in Blaine’s arms.

 

“I couldn’t save him.” Steve mumbled into Blaine’s shoulder. “I can never save him. Why… why can’t I save him?”

 

A few hours later, Blaine had finally maneuvered an exhausted Steve into the bedroom with a tray of soup and toast and a glass of water. He set curled around Steve, one hand stroking the back of his neck and the other on his arm urging him to eat.

 

Steve hadn’t spoken a word since his tearful whispers, but Blaine was patient. He knew that when his boyfriend was ready he would tell him.

 

After the soup was gone, Steve moved the tray out of the way and lay down, pulling Blaine down beside him. He rested their foreheads together before taking a deep breath.

 

“I… I’m sorry.”

 

“No, honey! You have nothing to be sorry for.”

 

“I shouldn’t have… I should’ve…” Steve sighed. “I really didn’t want you to see me like that.”

 

Blaine pushed at Steve’s chin with his hand, forcing him to look him in the eye.

 

“Well too bad. Because I love you and that means I’m here for you when things get hard. Just like I know you’re here for me. So when you get like that? That’s when I need to be around for you to lean on.”

 

Steve smiled faintly. “You know, you’d make quite a drill sergeant.”

 

Blaine grinned. “Darn right.”

 

Steve sighed again. “I want to tell you what happened but… It doesn’t even make much sense to me.”

 

“Steve. You’re a super soldier from 70 years ago who got frozen in ice and now saves the world from aliens. Not much about your job does make sense.”

 

Steve smiled again. “Well, yes.”

 

“Just start at the beginning.”

 

“Okay. You… you remember I told you about… about… Bucky?”

 

Blaine nodded.

 

“He…” Steve’s voice cracked a bit. “He was my best friend. My brother. And I thought I’d lost him decades ago.”

 

Blaine felt confused at the past tense, but didn’t interrupt.

 

“But then Fury called. Someone saw him. Or… they saw someone that looked like him. But… it wasn’t. Not the Bucky I knew. When I thought he’d died… I was wrong. We were all wrong. Someone had him. And they changed him.”

 

“So he’s…”

 

“Alive.” Steve gave a bitter laugh. “Here, in the future, he’s actually still alive. But he isn’t Bucky anymore. Hasn’t been in a long time. I find out he’s alive only to lose him all over again. Only to have to fight him.”

 

Steve stopped, the emotion threatening to overtake him again. Blaine pulled him into an embrace, dropping kisses across his cheeks and forehead. He whispered what he hoped were soothing words. “I’m so sorry. I’m here. I’m here, honey. I’ll always be here. You’re going to be okay. I love you.”

 

The next morning when Blaine woke up the bed was empty and there was a note on the nightstand.

 

“Fury called. They found him. I love you.”

 

Blaine called in sick to work, spending the day glued to the television in the hopes that any action would make the news, his phone always in his hand. He wore Steve’s brown leather jacket, which he always did when he was called away on missions. But this time was different. This time was so much harder.

 

Sometime in the afternoon, there was a newsbreak on one of the local channels. There was a fight somewhere in Midtown between Captain America and an unknown assailant. Blaine sucked in a breath and gripped his phone.

 

The view was blocked and the inane chatter of the reporters was easily ignored. Steve and Bucky went in and out of view, but Blaine couldn’t tear his eyes away from the screen. It seemed endless, the back and forth. But then they disappeared for a moment. He knew that others were there, other SHIELD agents like Natasha or Sam Wilson, maybe even other enemies. But he only cared about Steve. And Bucky. And where had they gone? Then there was a flashing light in the distance behind some buildings and a panic set in. The reporter screamed nonsense at the camera.

 

“We don’t know what’s going on! Something has happened!”

 

“Of course something has happened!” Blaine growled at the screen. “Where the fuck is Steve?!”

 

Finally, after what felt like hours, the crowds seemed to calm as a SHIELD helicopter landed nearby. A small group limped from behind a building to the copter, and Blaine thought he saw a familiar blonde head amongst them.

 

The reporter confirmed his hopes.

 

“We’re getting reports that Cap is alright and that he is taking his assailant into custody. That’s all we know at this time.”

 

Blaine gladly shut off the TV, texting a quick “I love you” to Steve’s phone before passing out on the couch in relief.

 

The next morning he was woken up by the buzzing of his phone. Steve was calling.

 

“Steve? Are you okay?”

 

“Yes.” He sounded breathless, but also exuberant. “I’m… I’m great. It’s… Blaine.”

 

Blaine laughed in relief. “I saw the news. You worried me there for a bit.”

 

“I’m sorry. I worried myself for a bit, too. But… I’ll explain it all later but… I saved him. Well, not just me. But… he’s saved. He’s back.” Steve sounded almost hysterical.

 

“Bucky? He’s okay? He’s… himself?”

 

“Yes. He’s here. He’s fine. I can’t… I can’t wait for you to meet him.”

 

Blaine grinned, his smile growing so wide that it hurt his cheeks. He could feel tears welling up as well. Steve was okay. And Steve’s best friend was alive.

 

Blaine replied, voice thick with emotion. “I can’t wait either.”


End file.
